The Sideways Path
by ZeeZee22
Summary: They tell him all sorts of things, but he knows the truth. A look at Leonid Viigand's role in Chess. On hiatus.
1. The Path

**A/N: The quotes are Molokov talking to Leonid Viigand. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Chess.**

1. The Path

"I think you'll make a wonderful second, Leonid."

--

He has spent his life dedicated to a game that he cannot win. He knows this, most days. Some days, he actually thinks that he has a chance. Then Anatoly will come in and point out a flaw in his stategy. Anatoly will explain how he would beat him in six moves. Then he remembers why he is the second.

--

"Your country needs you to be devoted to your game, Leonid."

--

He loves chess. He lives and breathes and sometimes drowns in chess. He studies the greatest masters of the game and aspires to be one of them. He's a good player, everyone tells him, but not good enough to be the challenger.

--

"You are an important player, Leonid."

--

When Anatoly defects, they tell him that he is to be the new challenger. He is the best player in the USSR now, and for a little while that makes him happy. He knows that he is simply a tool to them, but he is playing chess. That is all that matters, right?

--

"What do you know about Anatoly, Leonid?"

--

When he learns he is to face Anatoly at first his reaction is despair. But then his resolve grows as he sees the Soviet officials that surround him now have some sort of plan for him to win. He tells himself that as long as he shows the world that he is a true player, it doesn't matter how he wins.

--

"Tomorrow we shall have a champion, Leonid."

--

They want him to win, but his victory is not the prize. Anatoly is. And he understands this, and he knows that everyone knows that he is not winning because he is good, but rather because Anatoly wants to be bad. The matches are tied 5-5 but winning hasn't given him the satisfaction that he craves. Chess, in the end, he decides, is what is truly important.

--

"It is time, Leonid."

--

He plays as well as he can, for that is what his conscience demands. He knows that Trumper has done what has been asked of him. He knows that Anatoly will beat him no matter how well he plays, and he accepts that. And for once, the game that he cannot win has given him a partial resolution.

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	2. The Second

**A/N: This story is going to be about the background behind each of the quotes in the opening chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Chess.**

2. The Second

_Anatoly's eyes are haunted_, Viigand thinks as he contemplates a move on the board set up in his hotel room. If he squints hard enough, he can see Anatoly sitting across the board, looking like he did before the World Championships. Back then, he and Anatoly were just acquaintances, up-and-comers in the Soviet chess world. They played the occasional game together, as did all the professional chess players.

"I want you to be my second," Anatoly had said, the day he won the Candidates tournament, the day he became the challenger.

"I don't want your leftovers," said Viigand, eyes focused on the ground, hands clenched into fists.

"Please? I'd like to think we are friends."

That was Anatoly's weakness- his need for companionship, affection. Viigand knew that his lack of such weakness would eventually make him the winner in the matches he played with Anatoly; at least, that was what he told himself.

"No."

It was the week before the chess match, and everyone who was anyone in the chess world was in Merano. Anatoly still did not have a second, and the Soviet officials who were assigned to shepherd him were worried.

The next day, Viigand walked out of his apartment in Moscow and found Molokov waiting.

"Pack your bags. We're going to Merano," said Molokov, turning and walking towards the black car at the end of the street, like he expected Viigand to follow.

"No." Molokov turned around slowly.

"And why not, Leonid?" Viigand flinched. The use of his first name unsettled him. _You do not become unsettled. You are a chess player. _

"I don't want to."

"And your wishes are so important? You rely on us for so many things..." The political games everyone played in the USSR tired him. Abruptly, he felt like he didn't really care anymore. _Yet another dangerous impulse._

"Fine. I'm coming."

"Very good. I think you'll make a wonderful second, Leonid."

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